Marking machine



. Much 19, 1940. A. PUTNAM El AL umxme momma F1166 Dec. 11, 19s? '5 Sheets-Sheet 1 lnvenTo rs. Claude A. Pu+r|am Charles E Robbins Charles H. Cheeseman March c. A: PUTNAM ET m. 2,194,324

lmmm MACHI NE I Filed Dec. '11, 19:57 5 She etS-Sheet 2 l' A5 J InvenTors.

Claude A. Pui'rlcam Charles F Robbins Charles H. Cheeseman Mych 19, 1940.

c. A. PUTNAM :1" AL lumxme ucaiim Filed Dec. 11, 193'? 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 lnv enTors.

Claude A. Pumam Charles E Robbins Charles H.Cheeseman 'BYWWAQW March 19, 1940. c, PUTNAM ET AL 2,194,324

MARKING MACHINE Filed Dec. 11, 1937 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 I30 InvenTors. C\aude A. Pu+nam Charles E Robbins Charles H. Cheeseman 5 for instance, as a cylindrical surface.

Patented Mar. 19, 1940 if UNITED STATES MARKING MACHINE Claude A. Putnam and Charles F. Robbins, Keene,

and Charles H. Cheeseman, Marlboro, N. H., as-

signors toMarkem MachineCompany, Keene, N. H., acorporation of New Hampshire Application December 11, 1937, Serial No. 179,364 120mm. (01. urn-3s) This invention relates to marking machines and it has for one of its objects to provide a novel marking machine adapted to make a printed impression on a convexedly curved surface A further object of the invention is to provide a marking machine of this type with .a

novel inking mechanism which permits the successful use 'of a quick dryingink so that the articles on' which the printed impression is made can be handled or manipulated as. soon as the printed impression has been'made without danger that the said printed impression will be smeared or injured. Further objects of the invention are to improve marking machines of this type in various particulars .whic-h willbe more fully hereinafter set forth and then pointed out in the appended A claims 'In' the drawings wherein we have illustrated a selected embodiment of our invention;

Fig. 1 is a front view of a marking machine embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a partial sectional view with the J section. taken vertically through the shaft Fig.8 is a section on substantially the line Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view showing part of the driving mechanism; e 'Fig. -5 is an enlarged sectional view of the steadyrest for one end of the article being marked;

Fig. 6 is a top plan View of the inking reservoir;

Fig.7 is a section on substantially the line .Fig.;8 is a sectional viewthrough the ink reservoir on theline 8'--8, Fig. '7;

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary sectional view showing the means for rotating the article holder;

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary section on the line Ill-l0, Fig. 2 showing the means for ejecting the marked article from the holder.

As stated above, this invention relates to a machine for making a printed impression on convexedly curved surfaces, and while the machine embodying the invention is adapted for making such printed impressions on a great variety of articles having convexedly curved surfaces we have herein illustrated it as it might be used in making a printed impression on the base of vacuum tubes'such as are used in radios and the like. We wish it understood, however, that the invention is not limited to marking vacuum tubes but can be used equally well for marking other cylindrical articles or articles having convexedly curved surfaces. 7

In thedrawings the vacuum tubes which are to be marked are indicated atv l.

herein illustrated is designed to make a printed such,

The machine impression on the cylindrical base portion '2 of the vacuum tube. This base portion 2 is usually of Bakelite or of similar insulating material and the machine herein'shown is constructed so that a quick-drying ink can be used in making'the printed impresssion with the result that the markedarticlescan be handled almost as soon as the printed impression has been made without danger of smearing or injuring the printed impression. r

Our improved 'machine'comprises a rotatable holder 3 in which the article I to be marked is held during the printing operation and the printed impression is made by means of a rotary printing pad constructed to have a rolling contact with the cylindrical surface of the article to b'e marked, the rotary holder for said article serving to give it the required rotative movement to provide for such rolling contact.

In the present embodiment of our invention we propose to employ a plurality of such article holders 3 which are mounted on a tu'rretmember 4, said article holdershaving a radial arrangementon said turret. 4 isshown as mounted on the horizontal shaft 505 which in turn is supported in suitable bearings'carried bythe frame I of the machine.-

Suitable means, which will be presently described, areprovided for giving the turret 4 a step-bystep rotary-movement thereby to bring the article carriers 3 successively into printing position, and while any article carrier is thus in printing position, the printed impression will be made on the article I carried thereby.

These article holders 3 may have various shapes dependent upon the character of the article to be printed. In'the present embodiment of the invention each article holder is provided at its outer end with a socket 5 adapted to receive the end of the base 2 of the vacuum tube I, said socket being of such a size as to tightly fit the base with suii'icient friction so that the article will be retained in the-socket. ticle holder is mounted in the turret 4 to rotate about a radial axis, and, as best seen in Fig. 2,

these article holders are supported in suitable bearings 8. i e I l The type member by which the printed impression is made on the article is shown at 9 and this is mounted on a head H) which is secured to a vertical shaft ll that is supported in suitable bearings l2 carried by the frame 1.-

tation of the head said member 9 comes into This turret member Each arrolling contact with the base 2 of the vacuum tube, thereby leaving the printed impression on will be the same as the surface speed of the type member 9. I v

The shaft II is driven from a driving shaft I3 by means of suitable spiral gears -I4,'said driving shafts I3 being shown. as having a drivingp-ulley' I5 thereon from which it is driven.

The means for rotating the article carrier with the same surface speed as that of the type member 9 comprises a rack sector I6 carried by the rotating head I0, and the teeth of which are adapted to mesh with gear .teeth It formed on the article carrier 3. The rack sector It is curved so that the tooth portion thereof is formed on the arc of a circle struck from the shaft I I as a center, and said rack sector I6 thus functions as a gear sector which by the rotation of the head It is brought into engagement with. the teeth I! on thearticle carrier.

The gear sector I6 is slightly longer than the type member 9 so that during the rotation of the head ID the teeth of the rack I6 will be brought into mesh with the teeth I! of the article holder, as shown in Fig. 9, just before the type member il comes into contact with the article to be marked.

The article will thus be rotating at the time that the type pad comes into engagement therewith, and as the type pad and the surface of the article to be marked have the same surface speed the rolling engagement between the type pad and the article will cause a clear printed'impression to be made on said article.

As stated above the article holders 3 are mounted on an intermittently rotating turret 4 and means are provided for giving this turret anintermittent or step-by-step rotation in timed relation with the rotation of the head In so that at each rotation of said head the turret will be advanced angularly a distance equal to that between adjacent article holders 3. For thus intermittently rotating theturret we. propose to use a device such as the well-known Geneva movement. The turret shaft 585 has the disk I8 fast thereon, which disk is provided with radial slots I9 and with the concavely curved surfaces 20 between the slots. The drive shaft I3 has fast thereon the other part of the Geneva movement in the form of the disk ZI'having a pin 22 extending therefrom adapted to enter a slot I9 during each rotation of the shaft I3 and move said disk I8 forwardly one step. During the time that the pin 22 is out of engagement with the disk said disk is held from rotation by the circular flange 23 on said disk which is in engagement with one of the concavely curved surfaces In operating the device the attendant will insert a vacuum tube into each article holder 3 as it comes into the position of the article holder 3-41 in Fig. 1, and at each rotation of the shaft I3 the turret lwill be stepped forward a distance equal to that between two adjacent article holders. This forward movement of the turret takes place while the type pad 9 is out of engagement "with the article and the turret is at rest while the head I0 is rotating through that part of its revolution in which the type pad 9 is in engagement with the article I. At each rotation of the head Ill, therefore, a fresh article will be brought into. position to be marked and as soon as the marking has been completed the turret is stepped forward to bringanother' article into printing I 1" position.

Means are provided for automatically ejecting the printed articles from their holders and for gage an ejecting cam carried by the frame 'I when the article holder reaches a position on the under side of the turret. The-engagement of the 3 this purpose each article carrier is provided with an ejecting pin 24 which is situated axially thereof, and the inner end of which is adapted to en- I inner end of each ejector pinwith the cam 25 forces the pin outwardly in a radial direction, as

shown in Fig. 10, and this outward movement I forces the article I- out from the recess 5 of the holder 3 as shown in Fig. 2. If desired, we may employ a receiving. belt or carrier 26 to receive, the articlesas they are ejected from the article.

holders. collar I which is received in a recess in the ture. ret, said collar serving to limit the extent, of radial movement of the pin 24.

Each ejector pin is provided with" a In order to hold each article steady while printed impression is being made thereon we proposeto employ a steady rest constructed to:.en.

gage the upper end of the article while each; 1

printed impression is being made thereon. "This:

steady rest comprises a plunger 21 which is mounted for vertical movement in a guiding member 28 carried by the frame 7. Said plunger sot carries at its lower end a head 29 which is pro-1 vided with' an article-engaging member 30 adapt: ed to engage the. upper end of the article I. f This.

member 38) is mounted in the head 29 for free rotary movement about a vertical axis so that it is free to turn with the article I while the latter is rotating. The member 30 is shown as having a conical exterior shape and as being retainedin thehead 29 by means of the retaining ring 3|,

the latter having a conical lip 32 to embrace the larger end of the member 30. 33 indicatesball thrust bearings which facilitate the turning and then to lower the steady rest into engage-- ment with the article after it has been brought into printing position.

frame I. lever is slotted at its end, as shown at 31, and the slot engages a pin 38 carried by the plunger 2'l.

said arm and an abutment carried bythe frame. For retaining this spring in position there is provided apin 4| around which the pin is coiled and which extends through an aperture in'the abutment 4B. This abutment 40 is shown as ad justably carried on a post 42 rising from a por'-- tion 28 of the frame, and its position vertically of the post can be varied by means of nuts 43 which For this purpose there is provided the elbow lever 34 pivoted at 35 to the' The horizontal arm 36 of this elbow Said horizontal arm of the lever 36 is engaged. by

a helical spring as which is confined between' 5.

are screw-threaded to the post. The action of this spring 39 is to yieldingly force the steady rest in a downward direction and said spring yieldingly holds the steady rest against each article I 'while it is being marked.

Means are provided for raising the steady rest f just before the turret is given each forward step,

and for this purpose the head ID has a post 44 rising therefrom in the axial line thereof, and said post 44 carries a cam 45 adapted to engage the lower end 46 of the vertical arm of'the elbow lever 34. The engagement of'the-cam--withthd elbow lever swings the latter clockwise, Fig. 2, thereby raising the steady rest, and the cam is so designedthat this occurs just before the .fGeneva movement operates to give the turret its forward movement,; said cam'lserving to hold thesteadyrest raised until the .turret comes to rest with another article in position to be marked. When the, cam. passesoutof engagement with the elbow lever. 34 the steady rest moves downward under the influence of'the spring 39 and comes into engagement with the article which has just been brought into position to be printed.

The apparatus herein shown canbe adjusted 'to make printed impressions on cylindrical article l;

type member can be adjusted on said table ina radial direction, that is, itv can be adjusted toward and from the axis of rotation of the ar- Said' type member 9 is shown as'carried by a slide-41 which is mounted on the head it! in suitture by another block 56 having its arcuate face able ways 48 for movement in a radial direction. This slide '41 has a screw-threaded stem 49 projecting therefrom which extends through an car 50 rising from and rigid with the head I8. 5| indicated adjusting nuts screw threadedto the stem 49 and which cooperate with the ear 5!! for securing an adjusting movement of the stem in the directionof its length; These nuts 5| also act as lock nuts to hold the stem in its adjusted position. By .this means the slide 41 can be moved to the right or to the left in Fig. 2 so as topadjust the typemember 9 into the proper position to have the correct rolling engagement with the article l regardless of the diameter of said article.

a In order to make a proper printed impression- -varies with the radius thereof it follows that if the type member 9 is adjusted radially to any appreciable extent it would be necessary to providefor changing the curvature of the typememher. .:The .type member 9 is preferably made of rubber or some slightly yielding material and it is secured to the curved face 52of a removable type carrier53. The type carrier 53 is in the form of a block having ribs 54 at its ends which are received in grooves 55 formed in two cheek pieces 56 that are secured to a head 51. This block 53 rests, on a supporting plate 58 which is secured to the under side of the head 51. The block 53 with the type member 9 can be removed by simply raising the ribs 54 out of the grooves 55. This provides for readily replacing a block 56 which has its curved face 52 formed on an'arc of one curva- 52 formed on a different curvature, and thus a even rolling contact between the type member and' the article to be marked regardless of the size of said article. I

; In order to provide the proper rolling contact between the type 9 and thearticle to be marked .be made.

it is,'of course. necessary, that the pitch circle of p I p the gear sector I6 should have the same radius as the circle in which the type 9 travels, and that the pitch circle of the pinion l'lshould have the same diameter as that of the cylindrical article at the point where the printed impression is to To provide for this we have made the gear sector It removable fromthe. head l0 so that when larger orysmaller articles are to be marked and the type member is adjusted radially correspondingly, the gear sector I6 may be removed from the head I0 and replaced by another gear sector having the correct pitch circle. The

head i0 is shown as formed with a flat seat portion.

55 against which the base 60 of the gear sector rests and said gear sector isremovably secured to thehead 9 by suitable bolts BI. This enables any gear sectorto be readily removed from the head and replaced by'another one having the proper pitch circle; It will be understo'odthat in order to rotate the cylindrical surface 2 of the article I at'the same surface speed as that of the type members 9 it is necessarynot only fthat the gear sector l6 should have a pitch circle of the same diameter as the circular path of movement of the type 9 but also that the pinion II should have a pitch circle of the same diameter as the cylindrical portion 2 onwhich the printedimpression is to be made. We have, therefore, provided an article holder having such a construction that the pinion H can be removed and replaced by another pinion and hence it is possible to always use a pinion having the'correct pitch circle for the cylindrical article which is to be marked. In the construction herein shownthe article holder 3 comprises the sleeve portion 62 'and a spindle member 63 on which the sleeve portion is removably mounted. This sleeve portion 63 has at its outer end the article-receiving I recess 5 andat its' inner end it is formed with the pinion l7, and because it can be'removed from the spindle member 63 it is. possible to'always use a sleeve 52 having a pinion portion I! provided with the correct pitch'circle to correspond to the size of the article which is to be retained in the I recess 5.

We have referred above to the fact that the type member 9 can be adjusted vertically orin the direction of the axis of the article to be marked; This is provided for by making the head 51 vertically adjustable on the slide 41'. Said head is providedat its sides with ribs 64 which operate in ways formed by gibs 65 which are secured to the slide 41, and thevertical ad-' l6 and pinions H having gear teeth of a'standard size, which means that the gearteeth are spaced a standard distance apart. Where pinions of different sizes all have gear teeth of'the same size it follows that for those pinions in which the length of the'pitch circle is not an exact multiple of the distance between the teeth the pinion will have on its surface space for only a certain numberv of teeth and a fraction of a be made with a certain-number of teeth and a wide space somewhat less than the distance between two teeth. In Fig. 9 such wide space is shown at 69."

In order that the" gear sector It and pinion I! may function properly it is desirable that the rest positionof the pinion should be such that i one of the teeth thereof will always be in position to be engaged by the end tooth of the rack 16 when the latter comes into position to engage the pinion, and we have, therefore, provided means which normally holds the pinion in this position. The spindle 63 is formed with a fiat surface 19 which, when the pinion is at rest,'is adapted to engage the flat edge "H of a springpressed positioning lever l2, the latter being pivotally mounted at- IS-and being acted on by a spring 14 whichurges it yieldingly toward the spindle. This lever 12 thus yieldingly holds the pinion in the position shown in Fig. 9 wherein the tooth next to the wide space 69 is in position to be engaged by the end tooth of the rack sector l5 when the latter comes into operative position. .When this occurs the pinion I! will be given its turning movement and the lever '75 will be forced backwardly against the action of the spring'by the camming action of the end of the flat face l0 against said lever. The length of the rack i6 issuch that at each rotation of the head l9 said rack willgive the pinion approximately one revolution, and when the rack l6 passes out of engagement with the pinion the spring-pressed lever 12 will cooperate with the flat face 19 to bring the pinion to rest in the position shown in Fig. 9.

The mechanism for inking the type member 9 which is herein shown, is specially constructed to handle eficiently quick-drying ink without becoming clogged due to the quick-drying quali- -ties of the ink. This inking mechanism comprises an ink reservoir 75 having an ink-receiving chamber 16 and an ink-delivery roll ll operating in said chamber and'with which the type on the type member 9 contact during the rotative movement of the head i9 whereby said type characters become properly inked for making rotation a film of ink will be carried on the surface of the roll past the blade 19. This blade is adjustably secured to the ink reservoir so that the thickness of the film of ink can be regu- ,-lated. For this purpose the blade is clamped to the reservoir by means of a clamping plate.

89 and clamping screws 8|, and said blade is provided with slots 92 through which the screws pass and which permit it to havethe necessary adjustment.

The ink reservoir 15 is provided with a block or darn 83 which is adjustable in a radial direction and which closes one end of the ink-reoeiving chamber 19 and also serves to hold the inkdistributing roll in contact with the edge of the blade 79. This block or dam 83 can be adjusted by means of an adjusting screw 84 which is screw-threaded through the wall of theinkreservoir l5 and which is provided with a lock nut'85 by whichjit may"be{looked*inj position. The ink reservoir 15' located a short dis-j tance from the turret '4 and in such position".-

that during each rotation of the head I0 the" type member 9 will be brought into engagementl with the inkingroll 11 just before said type member comes into position to engage the ar-' ticle to be marked; so that a 'minimum time,

interval elapses between the inking of the type 9 and the printing operation.

Means. are also provided'for positively rotat ing the ink roll Tl while the type is contacting therewith and at the same surface speed asthat of the type member sothat there'will be a-rolling contact between the ink roll 11 and the type;

member 9 during the inking rotation. I The. 9 means for rotating the ink roll operates to rotate said roll intermittently, that is, it gives the ink roll its rotating movement while the type": member 9 is in contact therewith for receiving ink, but becomes inoperative as soon as the M type member has moved out of contact there its revolution and is about to engage the ink roll again.

The means for thus intermittently rotating the ink roll is constructed so that the rotative' movement of the ink roll .begin'sjust before the g type member 9 comes into contact therewith so that when the type member doesthus con tact the roll it will come into contactwith the 'rotating roll which is rotating at the same sur-- face speed as that of the type member. j The ink roll 11 is made fast to. a shaft 86 which is mounted for rotation in suitable bearings 81 carried by a supporting member-88. This shaft 89 has loosely mounted thereon a constantly rotating pinion 89 which is geared. to and is driven by the shaft ll. Said shaft 'II has a' gear 99 fast thereon, which meshes with and drives a pinion 9i and the latter has rigid there-a with a gear 92 which mesheswith another gear' 93 that in turn mesheslwith the pinion 89 as shown best in Fig. 3. As stated above, thejpinion 89 is normally loosely mounted on the shaft 86 and is free to rotate thereon. We have, how-" ever, provided means for clutching said pinion) to the shaft 86 at such time as the ink roll 11- is to be rotated. For this purpose the pinion" 89 is shown as having one or more clutch pins 94 which are adapted to engage with cooperating clutch pins 95 carried by a clutch member 96 that is'splined to the lower end 91 of the shaft 86, and means are provided, for raising the clutch member 96 to bring the. clutching pins 95 into engagement with the clutch pin 94 at a point in the rotation of the head In just before the type member 9 comes into contact" with the ink roll H, that is, whenthe type mem-- ber 9 and the ink roll are approximately in the relative positions shown in'Fig. 8, and to retract I the clutch member 96 out of clutching engage ment as soon as the type member 9'has moved? past the ink roll 11. The means we have adopt-' ed for accomplishing this comprises a cam: mem-. ber 98 mounted on the shaft II and cooperatlever I09 which is pivoted intermediate or its ends to the frame at NH. The outer end of this lever I00 has secured thereto a yoke 192 which;

f bottom plates embraces the-clutchsleeve 96and'which is provided-with two oppositely'disposed pins I03 that operate in aperipheral' groove I04 with which the sleeve 9521s provided. The: clutch-actuating'l'ever-Hiii-is' acted on by a pullingspring I05 vided with a relatively short low portion I01 and with the high'portion 183. So long as the roll 99 is resting on the high portion the outer end of thele-ver Hifi'will be in'its' lowered position and Y the clutch member 95 will be disengaged from the pinion 89-; When-the low portion Ill-1' of the cam comes into register with the roll 99 then the spring L05 swings the outer end of the lever upwardly sufiiciently to move the clutch sleeve Eli-into clutching engagement with the pinion 8-9,, and when this occurs'the shaft 86 and the ink roll 'I 'bwill be positively rotated. As soon as the low'portion' Iii-l of the cam passes out from under'the ro1'l99 and the latter again moves onto the high portion 98-, then the clutch will be; disengaged and'the'inking roll will come to rest. 1 Since the ink roll is positively rotated during the type-inking operation and since the rotative movement of the inking roll is initiated just'b'efo're the type member comes into contact therewith; said type member will always have contact with thefreshly inked surface of the roll, and this is important where a quick-drying inkzis being used because the type member will never be brought into contact with a portion of the ink roll on which the ink has been allowed to'dry.- i'

The ink reservoir is adjustably mounted so that it can be placed at different elevations to cor-' respondto any. vertical adjustment of the type member 9 so that it can have different positions in a radial direction to correspond to any radial adjustment of the type member 9'.

The ink reservoir iii provided with'top and Hi] and Hi which engage the top andbottom ends of'the ink roll W, the latter having a hub portion" H2 which projects through the upper plate iii), and is provided with a set screw U39 by-Which the ink roll is secured to the shaft-- 35. 'The ink reservoir is thus supported on the ink roll. Said ink res 'ervoir is providedwith laterally extending arm the ink reservoir is obtained by loosening the set screw it?) and adjusting the ink roll l! vertically on the 8&3. During this adjustment the a m Ht will siitk up or down on the positionpin H t. Since' the ink reservoir is carried u by the roll. the adjustment of the roll will result in a vertical adjustment of the ink reservoir. The radial adjustment of the ink roll Tito correspond to any radial adjustment of the type member 9 is accomplished by adjusting the supporting member 83 in which the shaft at is rotatably mounted. supporting member 88 adiustably mounted on an arcuate-shaped bracket H? which is secured to the frame 1. One end H9 of the supporting member 88 is secured $017118 bracket ill by means of a screw H8 and the other end 't2fi of'. said supporting member is secured to saidbracket through the medium of another clamping screw l=2i-. The end i2liof the supporting member 88 is formed with a slot I22 through which the screw l2! extends and when this screw is loosened said supporting member 33 can be swung slightly about the screw Hiiasa pivot thereby moving the shaft 83 toward or from the head l0; To provide for adjusting the supporting member-88 we have herein illustrated two adjusting screws 523, I24. Thescrew 123 extends through and has screw-threaded engagement with an ear Iii-a on the bracket-ill and the end of said screw 23 engages, the side of the end I of the member 88. The other screw- I24 extends loosely throughthe ear I25 and the end thereof has screw-threaded engagement with said member 88'. By backing off the screw i2 1 and turning up the screw I23 the left-hand end of the supporting member 86 will be moved downwardly in Fig.6 about the screw Haas a pivot thereby moving the shaft 86 toward-the head Ni. On the other hand, if the screw 1 23 is backed off and the screw 42 4 is turned up the left-hand end of the supporting member '88 in Fig' 6 will be moved upwardly thereby moving the shaft 86 away from the head it). 9 In this I way it ispossible toso adjust the inking roll that it will always have the proper position to provide the necessary rolling contactbetween said roll and the type member 9 during the typeinking operation.

tacts with the roll and to unclutch said constantly rotating member from the shaft when the type member moves out of contact withsaid roll.

2. A marking machine having in combination a type member, an inking device therefor oomprising a shaft, an ink roll fast on the shaft, an

ink reservoir mounted on andcarried by said ink roll; means to move the type member in a path tangential to said roll, and means to rotate the shaft and thus rotate the roll while the type member is in contact therewith.

3. A marking machine having in combination a type member, an inking devicetherefor comprising a shaft, an ink roll fast on the shaft but adjustable longitudinally thereof, an ink reservoir mounted on and carriedby said ink roll, means to move the type member in a path tangential to said roll and means to rotate the shaft and thus rotate; therollwhile the type member is in contacttherewith.

4. A markingmachinehaving in combination a type member, an inking device therefor comprising a vertical shaft, an ink r011 fast on the shaft, an ink reservoir mounted on and carried by said ink roll, said reservoir having anopening in one side through :which the roll projects,v

means to move the type member in a path tangential to said roll and means to rotate the shaft and thus rotate the roll while the type member gear teeth, a type member, means to rotate the latter in a path tangential to the article held in the article holder, a gear segment rotatable with the type member and adapted to engage the gear teeth of the article holder thereby to rotate the later while the'type memberis in printing contact with the article held in the article holder, yielding means normally holding the article holder at rest in a predetermined angular position, said means permitting rotation of the article holder bythe engagement of the gear teeth thereof with the gear segment and being operative to yieldingly restrain rotative movement of the article holder only when the latter is in said predetermined angular position.

6. A marking machine having a supporting member, an article holder for supporting a cylindrical article rotatably mounted thereon and pro vided with gear teeth, a type member, means to rotate the latter in a path tangential to the article held in the article holder, a gear segment rotatable with the type member and adapted to engage the gear teeth of the article holder thereby to rotate the latter while the type member is in printing contact with the article held in the article holder, said article holder having a flat surface and a spring pressed lever cooperating with said fiat surface and normally holding the article holder in a predetermined angular position, while permitting said article holder to rotate when the gear segment engages said gear teeth, said spring pressed lever bringing the article holder to rest in said predetermined angular position when the gear segment passes out of engagement with said gear teeth.

7. A marking machine comprising a rotatable turret member, a plurality of article holders each adapted to' hold a cylindrical article rotatably mounted onthe turret member, each article holder being provided with gear teeth, means to rotate the turret member with a step-by-step movement to bring the. articles carried thereby successively into printing position, a type member, means to rotate the latter in a path tangential to the articlewhich is in printing position, a gear segment rotatable with the type member and adapted to engage the gear teeth of the article holder which is in printing position, thereby to rotate the latterwhile the type member is in printing contact with the article held thereby, each article holder having a fiat face, a spring pressed lever for each article holder normally engaging said flat face and holding the article holder in a predetermined angular position, each lever permitting the correspondingarticle holder to rotate when the gear teeth thereof are engaged by the gear segment and bringingthe article holder to rest in said predetermined angular position when the gear segment passes out of contact with said gear teeth. I p

8. A marking machine having in combination a type member, an inking device therefor comprising. a normally'idle shaft, an ink roll fast on the shaft, an ink reservoir in which said ink roll operates, means to move the type member in a circular path tangential to said roll, a constantly rotating shaft-rotating member, and means to clutch said shaft-rotating member to the shaft just before the type member contacts with the ink roll and to unclutch said constantly rotating memberv from the shaft when the type member moves out of contact with said ink roll.

9. A marking machine having in combination a type member, an' inking. device therefor comprising a normally idle shaft, an ink roll fast on the shaft, an ink reservoir mounted on and carried by the ink roll, means to move the type'mem ber in a path tangential to said roll,,a constantly rotating shaft-rotating member, and means to clutch said shaft rotating member ,tolthe shaft just before the type member contacts with the ink roll and to unclutch said member from the. shaft when the "type member moves out of contact with said ink roll.

10. A marking machine having in combination I a type member, an inking device therefor com prising a normally idle vertical shaft, an ink roll contacts with the ink roll and to unclutchsaid member from the shaft when the type member moves out of contact with the, ink roll. I

11. A marking machine having in combination a turret member rotatable about a horizontal axis, a plurality of rotary article holders carried by the turret member and each rotatable about an axis extending radially to that of the turret member, means to rotate-the turret member intermittently to bring each of the articles carried by the article holders in turn into printing position, in which position the axis of the article holder stands vertically, a vertical shaft, a type member carried thereby, meansto rotate the shaft, said type member during its rotative movement having a rolling contact with the article which is in printing position, a steady rest adapted to engage the article which is in printing position, a spring forholding the steady rest yieldingly in engagement with said article, a cam car- I ried by said vertical shaft, and means actuated turret with a step-by-step movement to bring the article holders successively into printing position with their axes extending vertically, a type member, means to move the type member in a circular path about a verticalaxis and tangential to the article held "by that article holder which is in printing position, thereby to make a printed impression on said article, means to r0- tate the article holder while such printed impres-e sion is being made, a vertically movable steadyrest, a spring acting onthe steady-rest and tending to move it into operative engagement with the article which is in printing position, and a cam device operative .to raise the steady-rest against the action of the spring after each printing operation and to release said steady rest just before each printing operation, whereby the spring, when released, moves the steady-rest into its operative article-engaging position. 

